Political Notebook: Will Nancy Pelosi be next to laud Sen. Alexander?

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander won praise last week from a prominent Senate liberal.

Alexander, Tennessee's senior Republican senator, is leading opposition to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to restrict boating and fishing access immediately below the 10 dams the agency operates on the Cumberland River and its tributaries. Area anglers vocally oppose the restrictions, and Alexander, who is seeking re-election next year, has taken up their cause.

At a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Corps budget, Alexander slammed the agency over the restrictions and threatened to hold up budget requests if there is no compromise. Alexander, the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, accused the Corps of thumbing its nose at Congress. He may have earned an ally in Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Feinstein, a California Democrat and former San Francisco mayor, is the subcommittee's chairwoman. She urged the Corps to "work something out" with Alexander.

"This is a very reasonable member - I think 99.9 percent of the time," she said.

Alexander's office even included the quote in a news release sent after the hearing. And Alexander had kind words for Feinstein.

"She has had the advantage, among other things, of having been a mayor, and I was once a governor. And people who hold those positions like to make decisions and get things done," Alexander said at the start of the hearing. "We approach things from the same direction. We don't always agree, but let's say we have differences of opinion. But we don't have disagreements, and we figure things out."

- Duane W. Gang

Ad urges tougher checks for gun buyers

More than 150 gun safety and gun control activists, including at least three elected officials, took out a full-page ad in today's Tennessean to urge readers to ask Tennessee's senators to rethink their opposition to expanded background checks.

The people listed in the advertisement include Nashville Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors and Metro school board members Amy Frogge and Jill Speering. Gun safety activist Linda McFadyen-Ketchum said the ad cost $8,000, which also paid for an online link the group can share.

The ad includes statistics showing that gun homicides are much more common in Nashville and Tennessee than they are in more populated places, like Japan and Massachusetts. It also tries to get people to contact the state's two senators, Republicans Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker.

"On April 17 Senators Alexander and Corker voted to DEFEAT the bi-partisan Manchin-Toomey amendment that would expand background checks to prevent felons and mentally ill people from buying guns," the ad reads. "The amendment came within 6 votes of overcoming a gun industry-endorsed filibuster. Manchin-Toomey can still be re-considered this session.

"Today, Mother's Day, we ask you to remember the mothers who have lost children to gun violence in Tennessee, at Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech, in Aurora and Columbine - and every state in our land. And the many more lost to suicide, domestic disputes, gang violence and accidents."

- Michael Cass

Sen. Corker criticizes State Department over raid in Benghazi

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday that there has been "just no accountability" within the State Department for its handling of the raid on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The interview came as the House Oversight Committee held a hearing on the September raid.

The appearance represented Corker's third national TV appearance in as many days. Fresh off his round of golf with President Barack Obama, the Tennessee Republican went on CBS on Tuesday and CNN on Monday.

In those interviews, Corker intimated that he and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss "took a little money off" the president on the links, predicted the U.S. soon will be arming moderate rebel groups in Syria and said he's waiting for the president to explain reports that the CIA delivered bags of cash to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

- Chas Sisk

Cooper's anti-default pay halt passes in House

If U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper has his way and congressional dysfunction continues, he and his colleagues might never get another dime.

Cooper's proposal to stop federal lawmakers' pay if the United States defaults on its debt was approved by a large majority of House members Thursday. It's similar to a bipartisan plan he previously shepherded into law, commonly known as "No Budget, No Pay," that will keep members of Congress from getting paid if they fail to pass a budget. The restriction applies to this year only, though he had hoped to make it more permanent.

Cooper actually voted against his own anti-default proposal - which we're dubbing "No Credit, No Pay" - after he voted for it. Why? It was an amendment to a Republican-backed debt ceiling bill, which Democrats unanimously opposed. While the amendment passed with 340 votes, the House approved the debt ceiling bill by a much smaller margin.

A news release from Cooper's office said he opposed the bill "because, in the event of default, it orders the Treasury Department to pay Chinese and other foreign bondholders first before paying seniors, veterans and members of the military."

The Nashville Democrat said the amendment, which he first introduced in 2011, would punish Congress for failing to do its job.

"Defaulting on our debt is not an option, but if we do, then a paycheck for members of Congress also shouldn't be an option," Cooper said.

- Michael Cass

Credit agency likes Tenn. pension overhaul

Moody's Investors Service has given the recent overhaul of Tennessee's pension system a vote of confidence, releasing a statement that calls the changes a "credit positive" for the state.

Moody's did not change the state's credit rating, which is already AAA, but it did say the decision to require new employees to pay into the system would lower the state's pension costs and future liabilities.

Ratings agencies have been among those calling for changes to state pension systems in response to new accounting standards that require state governments to put future liabilities on their books, even if they have more than enough cash to pay out benefits today. Critics say bookkeepers and investors have forced changes to Tennessee's public pension system, even though it's among the nation's best funded.